Cleveland Indians

It's Saturday morning and the Dawgs are facing a bye week, Ohio State is facing Meeechigan and JoePa is trying to earn a trip to sunny California. Looking for some insight ...... or just a reason to laugh. Look no further my friend. Prepare to scroll and please pass the hot chocolate. Ohio State leads Rodriguez to grimmace. But don't believe the rumors that he calls in sick. Rich shows up and even calls a play or two that lead to a TD. Problem is the Buckeyes score more. A LOT more.Clemson is away in Charlottesville, but there is nothing cavalier about their attitude today. They touch that rock Dabo style. Uva keeps it close but Harper hits Kelly early and then late to keep the Tigers thankful for a win before Darth Visor visits.JoePa's Nittany Lions take on Michigan State for a chance to earn a Rose Bowl berth. The Spartans have one of the best backs in college football, but I think Penn State takes care of business at home.Oregon State can keep the dream alive in the Tucson desert. 'Zona keeps this one close before the Rodgers brothers take over. Dam! Beavers are still ahead of the mighty trojans....Tennessee visits Vandy. The vOwels were a dark horse in the SEC East in the preseason. Now they're just a dead horse. Philmer falters with a team that is clearly not fighting for him.Houston Nutt returns to Death Valley where he thought he had put a fork in the Tigers hopes of a National Championship last season. Problem was those kitties had more than nine lives. This year Nutt has a new team, but the result is the same. Rebels are better than Troy. They can play for 60 minutes.Arkansas at Missy State - if you're reading this one, seek help. I'm picking State just because I like Croom....and Petrino's a dork.North Carolina State heads to Chapel Hill to try and put a dent in what has been a shiny season for Butch's Tar Heels. I think this one will be closer than many think. But UNC makes the wolfpack howl in the end.UGA vs. the Bye - we won the last matchup back in early October. The bye came out steaming mad, but the Dawgs recovered nicely and I think this one goes the same way. Take a deep breath Dawgs, the bees are buzzin'.Citadel goes into the Swamp and many are predicting a blowout. I agree! This one's over by halftime. Citadel 74, gators 3.The Big 12 matchup of the week should only take 5 and a half hours to play. Texas Tech takes their future former head coach Mike Leach to Oklahoma and yes they are still #2. I personally would love to see Texas Tech meet Bama for the BCS. Trendy offense with all the flash and sparkle. Versus traditional power that prides itself on smash-mouth. But Oklahoma makes a statement tonight. Boomer-Sooner in a close one.

Continue reading "Bernie's Gameday NCAA Football Predictions"

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

A few relatively minor items to cover with the moves made by a few teams recently. What might they mean in the second half? I’ll try and puzzle this out.

Tony Clark, who experienced a career resurgence the day he put on an Arizona Diamondbacks uniform back in 2005, hs returned to the cozy confines of Chase Field. Petco, where hitting a homer is as hard as hitting the lottery, wasn’t as kind to the aging Clark as Chase has been, so he’ll certainly improve on his 2008 line of .239/.374/.307. His 32:19 K:BB ratio, as well as hs 165-point difference between BA and OBP, will tell you his batting eye is fine, and some power should follow.

Continue reading "Roster Tinkering: What's it Mean?"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

Still playing ketchup here, trying to make up for a four-day absence from the blog, so I want to start with the big trade of last week, the CC Sabathia swap. The usefulness of this deal to the Brewers is a little dubious, as CC is likely to be a half-season rental, but let’s break it down:

Continue reading "NL Central Trade Analysis, Part One"

Since the calendar has turned to July, the MLB Trade deadline is quickly approaching. What teams will be buyers? What teams will be sellers? What big stars are on the block? Who will stay? Who will go?  Those burning questions are running through minds of fans of all teams, including our beloved Chicago Cubs.

Continue reading "Cubs Crave Sabathia"

OK, that title was irresistible, but in fact I'm going to say that Chien-Ming Wang's foot injury should force the Yanks hand in a trade, especially when combined with other injuries this season. Funny how little things can combine to lead to something even larger, accumulating momentum gradually until it becomes irresistible, as it has with the murmurs about a trade for C.C. Sabathia, which is really more the point of this blog.

Continue reading "Off On the Wang Foot"

Though they don't seem as devastating as the Soriano/Pujols loss I wrote about yesterday, two key players have gone down on two other teams today. Cleveland put Victor Martinez on the DL, while Seattle placed its once-reliable closer JJ Putz back on the DL, both with elbow injuries. And unlike Soriano's freak fracture, there were hints at undiagnosed problems with both Martinez and Putz.

Continue reading "Two Big Injuries, Day Two"

Major League, one of the funniest baseball movies around, told the tale of the woeful Cleveland franchise, so mired in mediocrity that their owner sought to cash in on them finishing in the cellar. It seemed like a good bet. The hapless Cleveland franchise hadn't tasted the postseason since 1954, and hadn't won a world title since 1948, one of the longest pennantless streaks in baseball. But ever since that 1989 movie--wherein, of course, the built-to-fail Indians defied their owner's devious plans--their consistent failure hasn't been a good bet. 

Continue reading "Those Amazing Indians"

Much exuberant ink has been spilled over Asdrubal Cabrera's unassisted triple play in yesterday's Indians-Blue Jays game, only the fourteenth in MLB history. That rarity makes it memorable, but I'm not sure there's a ton of athleticism involved--the Unassisted Triple Play (or UTP for short) is more luck of circumstance than anything.

Continue reading "The Not-So-Unassisted Triple Play"

Two weeks into the 2008 season and the Boston Red Sox must be pleased with how the season has gone thus far. Granted they are only two games over .500 at 8 and 6 and have split their last 10 games, but things could be much, much worse. When the Yankees went to Japan to open the season, they proceeded to go 11-19 in the first month of the season before finally snapping out of it and going on to win the division. Boston is only half a game out of first place in the tightly packed American League East which is currently lead by the surprising Baltimore Orioles who do not figure to hang around much longer.

Continue reading "Red Sox Should Feel Good About The Season So Far"

Cleveland Indians

Can Fausto Carmona sustain his success from last season?

Cleveland came within one game of a trip to the World Series last season before Boston’s comeback from a 3-1 hole. The Indians made no major changes to last year’s squad and figure again to battle for the top spot in the Central. Pitching will play a key role, especially going head to head with Detroit who will boast the top lineup in the Majors.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: AL Central"

Continue reading "American League East is a Beast of a Division"